


Through It All

by BardicInspo



Category: Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-19
Updated: 2018-01-19
Packaged: 2019-03-06 17:56:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13416546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BardicInspo/pseuds/BardicInspo
Summary: AU, no powers or prideChase's family moves to Los Angeles when he's just in kindergarten, where he meets Alex, Nico, Karolina, and maybe most importantly, Gert. As the group grows up, feelings can be hard to avoid and secrets can be even more difficult to keep. But maybe if they stick together they can get through it all.





	Through It All

Chase sat in the back of his parent’s SUV twisting his hands together nervously. It was his first day of kindergarten and he was going to a brand-new school. His dad had gotten an offer to open his own lab, branching from the tech company he already worked for, and despite his protests the family was uprooted and moved to Los Angeles.

“Do you think they’ll like me?” piped up the young boy nervously, his small anxious eyes darting between his parents, who were both seated in front of him.

“I don’t see why not, as long as you behave,” replied his farther coldly, his eyes remaining firmly on the road.

His mother sighed, glancing in Victor’s direction before turning around in her seat to face her son in the back of the car. She smiled softly at him, reaching forward and placing a hand on his knee.

“I’m sure they’re going to love you, sweetheart. I know moving to a new school is difficult, but there’s nothing to be nervous about.”

The anxious boy nodded in response, glancing at his dad and then down at his hands. His mom gave a reassuring squeeze to his knee. Victor pulled the car up to the school and parked, the three occupants getting out, Chase taking his mom’s hand as they walked up to the school building and checked in, then making their way towards his classroom.

The school room was filled with young kids accompanied by their parents, all waiting to introduce themselves to the person who would be their kids’ teacher for their first year of elementary school. Janet introduced herself to his teacher while he stood nervously beside her, clutching her hand like his young life depended on it.

Janet crouched down, so she was eye level with her son, “you’re going to be just fine. I’m sure you’ll have a great day. Ms. Romanoff seems like she’s going to be a great teacher,” she leaned forward and wrapped him in a tight hug, kissing the top of his head, “I love you, honey.”

She got up and looked at Victor expectedly, causing him to pocket the phone he’d had his eyes on the entire time they were in the school, and looked down at Chase, “as long as you behave things will be fine, son. Just make sure you pay attention and work hard,” he nodded, making a mediocre attempt at a smile and turned to begin leaving.

Janet sighed, bending town to kiss the top of Chase’s head again and gave him a reassuring smile before quickly following after her husband.

He quickly made his way towards his desk, his hands clamped tightly around his backpack straps. Upon each desk nametags were placed indicating where each of the kids sat. Chase sat and watched as the parents slowly began to filter from the classroom, saying goodbye to their kids. As the other kids searched for their seats Chase looked looked around and observed everyone. Other than one girl crying by the door everyone seemed excited to be there. He looked down and pulled at the edges of his shirt. The shirt was a bright blue color with an orange and green dinosaur on the front of it. It was his favorite one, he had picked it out specially for that day, hoping to maybe impress the other kids. It didn’t do much to dissuade his nervousness though, if anything he was even more worried that the other kids wouldn’t like it, his original excitement for it fading.

Chase was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of the seat next to him being pulled out, and a boy sitting down beside him. The other boy turned and smiled widely at him “hi! I’m Alex!”

“H-hi, I’m Chase,” he said, looking away nervously, going back to playing with his shirt.

“I’m sorry, are you okay?” asked Alex, furrowing his brows, “did I do something wrong?”

“No! No,” Chase exclaimed, looking up at Alex, “I just moved here. I don’t know anyone,” he mumbled.

“Oh, well, now you know me, and you can know my friends too! We all went to the same preschool ‘cause our parents are friends,” smiled Alex.

“O-okay,” Chase replied, smiling softly.

“Look! Over by the door crying is Karolina. She’s crying ‘cause our friend Gert is in another class, so we only get to see her at Recess,” Alex explained, pointing towards the door. “The girl trying to help her with Ms. R is Nico!”

Chase felt himself begin to relax due to the other boy’s enthusiasm. With Nico’s help Ms. R was soon able to coax Karolina into making her way to her seat, which was switched so it would be next to Nico’s. The two girls made their way to their seats, Nico leading Karolina, who was rubbing the tears from her eyes, by the hand.

The morning was simple, since it was the first day nothing in depth really began. They started the day out with Ms. R reading a story to the class, which was followed by a discussion of what the kids liked or disliked. After that they had a small art class, and then worked on the alphabet and spelling. This led them up to snack time. After Alex and Chase got their juice and crackers from Ms. R, Alex led Chase to Nico and Karolina, so he could finally introduce Chase to them.

“Hey, guys!” Alex loudly greeted the two girls, “this is Chase! He just moved here, and he’s gonna be our new friend!”

“Hi, I’m Nico,” smiled the shorter of the two girls, “this is Karolina,” she added turning to look at the other girl who was looking away shyly.

“Hi, it’s nice to meet you guys,” he responded, reflecting a similar shyness to Karolina, and followed Alex’s lead in sitting down beside the two.

Nico and Alex quickly jumped into conversation with each other, with Karolina occasionally adding to it. Chase was too nervous to say anything though. He didn’t want to upset anyone by saying the wrong thing, so remaining quiet seemed like his best option. He had gotten pretty used to Alex now that they were halfway through the day, but the other two were still so new to him.

“but the red ranger is the _leader_. He’s obviously the best,” insisted Alex.

“No,” Nico rolled her eyes exasperated with the boy across from her, “the black one is the best,” said the small girl crossing her arms, “right, Karolina?”

“I like the pink one… but the black one is cool too,” said Karolina, shyly looking at the other girl.

“Fine, what about you Chase?” Alex asked, looking towards the other boy for support.

“I don’t really have a favorite,” he shrugged, his eyes darting between the other three’s gazes.

“You _have_ to have a favorite,” said Nico.

“Chase is right, they are all pretty cool,” said Karolina, quietly, giving him a reassuring smile, one that he returned in relief.

“I guess,” Alex grumbled, “but the red one is really cool,” he added quietly.

The group’s discussion was cut short by Ms. R calling for everyone to throw their garbage away and get ready to go outside for recess.

“Does this mean we get to see Gert now?” Karolina asked Alex and Nico.

“Yeah, I think so,” smiled Nico, taking the slightly taller girl’s hand in her own and excitedly leading her to the door. Alex and Chase followed behind the two girls, Chase resorted back to twisting his hands together nervously. Now he had to meet another new person.

The class made their way outside. The three others spotted a girl looking around appearing to be a little lost, and based on Nico, Alex, and Karolina rushing towards her Chase could only assume that this must be Gert. He trailed a bit behind the others, partially because he was nervous but also because he didn’t want to interrupt the others’ reunion.

“Gert, this is Chase!” Alex said, he turned to look for the other boy and saw him lingering behind. Chase slowly made his way over to the group and smiled shyly at Gert, mumbling a quick hello.

“Hi,” she smiled, giving him a once over before adding, “I like your shirt. Dinosaurs are my favorite animal.”

Chase smiled, growing slightly more confident, “thanks! They’re mine too.”

“Have you seen Jurassic Park?” she asked excitedly.

“N-no, I’m not allowed to watch those movies. My mom says they’re scary,” he said, shying away slightly.

“That’s okay, you can come over and watch it,” she smiled.

Chase nodded, finally beginning to relax completely.

The group made their way to the playground to play on the jungle gym together. Alex and Nico raced down the slides, with Karolina standing at the edge judging. Chase stood by watching, and maybe he was wrong, but he could’ve sworn Alex was actually winning despite Karolina repeatedly giving the win over to Nico.

Chase felt a hand on his shoulder, startling him slightly. Gert came into his peripheral view, “what’re you doing?” she asked.

“Just watching,” he replied quietly.

“Why don’t you join?”

“My dad told me to be good, that’s how I’d make friends.”

The young girl grew confused, “it’s recess. We’re supposed to be playing. ‘sides, we’re _already_ friends.”

“I just don’t want to cause any trouble,” he mumbled, his cheeks growing red.

“Do you want to go play on the swings?”

“I don’t know I-” he started, but was cut off by Gert grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the swing set.

It took a few minutes but soon Chase started to loosen up a little bit and started to really play on the swings without worrying so much about doing something wrong. Chase didn’t know Gert very well yet, or any of the other kids really, but something about her was comforting. She liked dinosaurs and she didn’t seem to be afraid of doing what she wanted.

 

After recess the rest of the day went by fairly quickly, and soon parents were arriving to pick their kids up. The kids were outside of the school in clusters with their teachers. Chase scanned the school’s parking lot looking for the familiar sight of one of his parents’ vehicles. After awhile most of the other kids’ parents had already come and picked them up, Chase was one of the few stragglers left behind, and the only one remaining from his class. Alex, Nico, and Karolina had left, bidding their goodbyes with promises of seeing each other the next day, which Chase happily returned.

Chase glanced towards the other kids to see who was left, and noticed Gert greeting a man who appeared to be her dad,  who was just arriving. The young girl ran excitedly towards him, as he bent down to wrap her in a hug. Gert’s dad walked over to her teacher, giving the woman a handshake. As he did this Gert looked around and noticed Chase still standing there. She pulled on her dad’s pantleg, pointing over in Chase’s direction and asking him a question. The man nodded before turning back to the conversation with Gert’s teacher, and she ran over to Chase.  

“Where are your mommy and daddy?” she asked as she stopped in front of him.

“Dunno,” mumbled Chase, looking down at his shoes.

“Oh,” she paused and looked around at the cars in the parking lot, “when she gets here you should ask if you can come play! I’ll ask my daddy too. He’s over there talking to my teacher,” she sighed and rolled her eyes, “he talks to _everybody_ , I’m always waiting for him.”

Chase giggled at the other girl’s comment, “my daddy doesn’t talk to anyone.”

A car door closed loudly in the parking lot, followed by the sound of quick footsteps. Chase and Gert turned towards the noise, and Chase smiled in relief, “that’s my mommy,” he told Gert.

“Sweetie, I am so, so sorry I’m late,” she franticly spoke as she approached them, and leaned down to give him a kiss on the forehead, “oh, and who’s this?” she asked smiling sweetly at Gert.

“This is Gert! We’re not in the same class but her friends are in my class! We played together on the swings, her favorite animals are also dinosaurs!” he explained excitedly.

“That’s lovely, well, Gert, I’m Chase’s mom. It’s very nice to meet you,” she said, crouching and holding out her hand to shake the little girl’s.

“Hello, there!” came a cheerful man’s voice. Chase looked up to see Gert’s dad approaching.

“Daddy!” Gert exclaimed, “can Chase come over and play!”

“If it’s okay with Chase’s mom, honey,” he said, smiling down at his daughter before looking up at Chase’s mom, “hi, I’m Dale Yorkes,” he said, and extended his hand for a handshake.

“I’m Janet Stein,” she smiled, extending her hand in return.

“So, what do you say? Is it okay if Chase comes and hangs out for a little while?”

“We’re actually pretty busy today,” she said, shooting an apologetic look down at the two kids, “how about sometime this weekend?”

“That sounds perfect to me,” he smiled, looking down at Chase and Gert, he asked, “what do you say, guys?” which resulted in enthusiastic nods from the two.

Dale and Janet exchanged contact information before going their separate ways, Chase taking his mom’s hand and walking towards the car, and Dale grabbing and swinging Gert around in a circle before carrying her over to the car, the two giggling as they made their way towards a minivan. Chase smiled as he watched the young girl, who looked over her dad’s shoulder and waved at him.

 

The week went by far too slowly for Chase’s liking, other than recess when he got to see Gert. That went by far too quickly. It was finally Saturday and the young boy was getting ready to go over to Gert’s house. He made sure his mom washed the dinosaur shirt he had worn at the beginning of the week, so he could wear it again today.

It was 11:30 and he was supposed to be at her house at 12. His mom was out that day to see an old friend from college, so his dad would be the one driving him. The two were sitting at the kitchen table in silence eating lunch. In his impatience to leave Chase was scarfing down his peanut butter and jelly, after swallowing the last bite of sandwich he reached for his glass of milk, but in his eagerness knocked it over, sending milk all over the table and into his dad’s lap.

Chase froze, hand shaking in the place it knocked the glass over, “I’m sorry, it was an acci-” he franticly began, but was cut off by his father reaching out and pinning his arm to the table with his hand, and curling his fingers around Chase’s wrist tightly.

“Be careful,” he said coldly, eyes examining the milk spilled on the table. He stood abruptly, dragging Chase with him, pulling him by the arm, grip tightening as he went, into the cooking area of the kitchen. Throwing him forward into the door of the cabinet below the sink, he spat out “the paper towels are under there. Clean it up and we’ll leave.”

Chase stood up from where he fell in front of the cabinet, rubbing his wrist. Red fingerprints stood out harshly against his skin. He hurriedly pulled the paper towels out of the cabinet and rushed to the table to clean it. Once he finished he threw the milk soaked paper towels away, and looked down at his wrist. In the few minutes it took him to clean up dark bruises had formed. He wiped the tears from his eyes, knowing they would only anger his dad more, and ran upstairs to put on a long-sleeved shirt that would hide his wrist.

 

It was 12:07 when Chase’s father pulled up to the Yorkes’ house. He escorted Chase to the front door with a hand gripped tightly on his shoulder, the grip loosening after he knocked on the door.

“Hey, you must be Victor. I’m Dale, Gert’s dad. It’s great to meet you,” he said, the two adults shaking hands. The smile that was almost always present on Dale’s face slipped slightly at Victor’s tight handshake and stern expression.

“Hello, Dale, correct? I apologize that we’re a few minutes late. Chase caused a bit of trouble,” he spoke sharply.

“Oh, it’s not a problem at all, it just a few minutes,” Dale said, trying to force his usual smile back on his face, “come on in, Chase,” he gestured for the young boy to come into the house, gently placing a hand around his shoulders as he walked quickly came through the door.

“Bye, dad. I love you,” Chase said quickly as we entered the Yorkes’ house. As Chase spoke small footsteps padded towards the door, Gert coming around the corner, and running up to the doorway, where the two kids enthusiastically greeted one another.

“Goodbye, son. Your mother will pick you up at six. Please be ready then, so not to keep her waiting,” he said in the same sharp tone, turning around and walking back towards the car. Chase deflated from the excitement of Gert coming to the door at his dad’s goodbye, but quickly tried to hide it.

Dale furrowed his brows as he watched Victor’s retreating form, shaking his head he turned around and closed the door, “interesting fellow,” he muttered under his breath before turning and smiling at the two kids.

“Daddy, can we watch Jurassic Park?”

“Sure, honey,” he smiled, ruffling her hair.

The kids followed Dale into the living room and started the movie, before heading into the kitchen to put some popcorn in the microwave.

“I’m going to run upstairs and check on Molly, you two okay down here?” Dale asked Gert, bringing the bowl of freshly popped popcorn to her and Chase.

“ _Yes_ , I can take care of myself, you know,” she says, taking the bowl and placing it half on her lap and half on Chase’s.

“I know, honey, I know. Just checking,” Dale chuckled, “I’ll be back down in a little while.”

The two sat and watched the movie, Chase completely engrossed in the story, and although Gert had seen it many times before she was also fairly absorbed in the screen, but during all her favorite parts she’d turn towards Chase to watch his reaction, giggling when he’d jump at the startling scenes.

When the film ended Dale came back downstairs carrying Molly, “hey, guys. It’s a nice day out and I thought you might want to go to the park for a little while.”

Once at the park Dale sat on a bench with Molly, wanting to get the little one some sun, and kept an eye on the two slightly older kids running around the park.

They were standing by a tree pretending to be dinosaurs reaching for the tall leaves. The weather was warm, and the long sleeves Chase had changed into weren’t being kind. The two raced towards the slides, and distracted by Gert the young boy rolled the sleeves of his shirt up without thinking. As they started up the stairs for the slide on the jungle gym, Gert gasped.

“What happened?”

Chase grew confused and glanced around him.

They finished climbing and Gert sat down on the surface at the top of the jungle gym, Chase following her lead, a confused expression still present on his face, “ _that_ ,” she said, pointing at Chase’s wrist, concern overtaking her features.

Chase’s cheeks flushed bright red and he pulled his sleeves back down, “it’s nothing,” he said looking away, “I fell this morning, c’mon, let’s go down the slides,” he said quickly, beginning to turn away.

Gert reached out to grab him before he could turn away, causing him to flinch, jumping back slightly, the young girl’s hand recoiling at his reaction, “I’m sorry,” she said. Chase’s lower lip trembled slightly, and she added, “m-my dad can give you ice for it back at my house. He did it for me when I bumped my head a few weeks ago.”

“N-no, it’s okay,” he said, furiously wiping at his eyes, his cheeks reddening in embarrassment.

“Really, he will. C’mon, let’s go get him,” she said, turning to get off the jungle gym.

“No! You can’t, it’s okay, really.”

Gert turned and sat back down, confused by the panicked look on Chase’s face, “why not?”

“Because, he can’t know I got hurt,” he said, his voice cracking.

“But adults can help when you get hurt,” she said, taking her bottom lip between her teeth and furrowing her brows.

“I don’t need help, please just say you won’t tell him.”

She sighed, looking away, “okay.” Gert didn’t want to agree, but he could tell it was important to him she didn’t say anything, even if she didn’t know why.

“You have to pinky promise,” he said, holding his hand out.

Sighing again, her shoulders deflating, she reached her hand out and hooked their pinkies together. Gert looked back at him, and after they pulled their pinkies apart she reached for his wrist and took it gently between her small hands. He started to pull away, confused, and she said “no, it’s okay. This is what my mommy always does when I get hurt.” Gert pushed the sleeve he had pulled back down and leaned forward, placing a gentle kiss on the hand shaped bruises around his wrist.

“T-thank you,” he mumbled, a blush overtaking his cheeks and a small, bashful smile forming on his lips.

“C’mon,” she said, pushing his sleeve back down and taking his hand in hers. The two kids stood up and continued moving on to the slide. Dale looked up, taking Molly’s tiny hand in his and waving at them with it, Chase and Gert waving back. Chase went down the slide first, and as Gert watched him she tried to push the confused feelings she was having away.

**Author's Note:**

> I have a general idea of where I'm going with this, but it's not totally figured out yet. But the plan is to time jump each chapter, so the second chapter is going to be middle school, and so on. I've never written something like this before. Everything I've done in the past, whether it be posted here or elsewhere, has pretty much been one-shots, so I hope you'll stick with me through this! It might get a little rough. I've also never written for a straight couple before, lmao. Everything else I've done (which really hasn't been that much) has been wlw.   
> Regardless, I hope you're willing to give this story a chance, and I hope it's at least not the worst thing you've ever read. :)  
> Tumblr: OnceUponAHarmony.tumblr.com


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